The Cry Goes Out

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In the beginning.

Ancient lore begins the tale of the Atrav long ago when the world was new. The wolfen were said to roam the lands of Eisengrun, a place gifted to them by the gods themselves. They were the wisest of all wolves and guarded their lands with fierce tenacity in order to keep all others out of their lands. These wolfen had an intelligence that rivaled even that of the first Elyrians. They could understand and even communicate with the people of the land on a verbel level. Those Elyrians who lived in the surounding areas knew better than to venture too far into Eisengrun for the wolfen that lived there rarely allowed any to leave alive.

When the gods created the first Elyrians, the wolfen looked on with both facination and concern. These new creatures tended to lean towards war and violence. They often failed to work in equilebrium with their enviornment and often with dire consequences. The

Wolfen

wolfen thought that eventually these creatures would continue to grow their numbers and spill into their lands. A wolfen female by the name of Atravia decided to act by approaching a small settlement of wanderers who were struggling to make it through their first winter. Osala, her mate, was a strong alpha male and wisest of all the Wolfen. Osala understood well Atravia’s concern over these humans and agreed that guiding theme would be to the benefit of all wolfen. It was he who established and passed on the catechysm known as the Tenants.

The Tenants laid out a code of honor and discipline that had been previously unknown to the Elyrians. There were taught how to establish tribes known as dens and how to oranize leadership into packs. Each den was to be comprised of twelve packs. Of the twelve packs, a leader would be selected as the alpha over the dens and betas were selected to lead over the packs. Packs often worked to specialize in different areas for the good of the den. This allowed the Elyrians to live more easliy at one with nature while adhearing to a strict code of honor. The Elyrians caught on quickly and became proficient in their new disciplines. Osla, pleased with the progress of these creatures decided to name them after his wife, calling them the Atrav.

The Atrav were treated like other packs that lived within Eisengrun and allowed to establish a settlement in the heart of it which they named Osala, in honor of the wolfen who had brought them the tenants. This tribe was named the Luitolf. Over time, the tribe would begin to grow and prosper. New dens were created by the ever growing packs and were sent outside of Eisengrun in order to maintain equilibrium with the enviornment. The dens who lived outside of Eisengrun became known as the Atravi. For every twelve Atravi dens one alpha known as a The Chosen would be selected to represent that Atravi den in Osala. In this way, the dens would still be linked together by this one chain of leadership.

The Cataclysm

Years passed and over that time, the Atravi grew in numbers and land near Eisengrun became scarce. Wars began to break out amoung the Atravi as well as jealousy towards the Luitolf who were allowed to live inside Eisengrun. As desension grew, many of the dens desided to rebel and began moving into Eisengrun. The wolfen became angered at this over step and began warring with these drifters. Osala, being old in age, asked the Luitolf to intervene quickly before things got out of hand. Luitolf instructed The Chosen to get thier dens in line. The dens promptly resonded by killing The Chosen and skinning them. This lead to a period known as the silence because the dens refused to adhear to the laws laid out by the Tenants. Their flesh was then used to create the heresy known as Pack Rule. It instructed the Atravi tribes to cast off the Tenants in favor of survival of the fitest. Thus war broke out and the siege of Osala began.

The war took its toll and many Luitolf, wolfen and Atravi persished. Unfortunately the Atravi had the greater numbers and it appeared as if Osala would fall. Now the rest of the tale is relatively unknown. Some believe though that the wolfen cried out to the gods to save them. As legend would have it, the gods would answer. The purge began as the gods began systemantically wiping out the Atravi. Eventually the tribes were left on the brink of extinction, with Osala being the last city of the Atrav and the gods turned their wraiths eyes towards it. An aged Atravia, unwilling to allow all she had worked so hard for to go undone begged their wraith be stayed. The gods became angry at Atravia and wished to make an example of her. Osala stood before the gods and instead asked that they spare Atravia and the Atrav and instead banish them from Eisengrun forever. The gods, pleased at Osalas offer killed him and demanded that all Atrav be forever banned. Atravia, heart broken by the loss of her lover Osala turned toward the gods and asked for one final request that a mark be placed on the Atrav so that they can never set foot in Eisengrun again until penance had been made. This also please the gods so they set The Mark of Atrvia on the Luitolf and sent them out of Eisengrund. Legend states that someday when recompense has been made, the Mark will guide the tribes back home to the holy land of Eisengrun.

Finally, as the last Atrav walked out of Eisengrun a dense fog was seen rising up. The fog lasted twelve days and when it finally rose, the holy land of Eisengrun, all its cities and even the Tenants had vanished with it. Luitolf vowed one day to return to this land and rebuild Eisengrun and reunite all Atravi, even those who had fled the cataclysm.

The Cry Goes Out

I made a pilgrimage to the holy land of Eisengrun a few months ago. I was searching for the lost city of Osala like many others before me and like others before me, I failed. I was

Osala

about to leave when in the distance I heard the shrill cry of wolves, howling towards the bright midnight moon. Chills ran down my back and I began to weep. Before I knew what was happening, I found myself running towards their cries. Pine needles slapped in my face and sharp jagged rocks seemed to stab at me as I pushed my way up a rocky hill. As I drew closer I began hearing the rasp growling of beast engaged in mortal battle. A lound wimper echoed to me from the distance, when I finally broke through the tree line I saw it. The area was covered in large flat stones of varying sizes. In the center of those stones was a large white wolf, lying bloodied and on deaths door. I quickly turned my head at the sound of a loud rustle of branches to see a large black dire wolf, staring at me from the distant tree line. I pulled my blade from its sheaf and made my way to the dying animal.

When I got there what I noticed caused me to nearly faint, for in the jaws of this majestic creature, was the long lost Tenants. My hands trembled with excitement as I carefully removed the document from the creatures jaws. Slowly I unrolled the ancient parchment to discover that the first section spoke of the purification. The next few lines walked me through step by step instructions in this process, which I will not reveal at this time. I will say though that it appeared that I was not here by happenstance for the ritual required the sacrifice of a pure white wolf. I washed my hands in his blood and wrote out the name Osala in the ancient language on the flat stone ground next to the beast. Immediately I saw what could only be described as a vision. A strange haze filed my eyes and as I turned my head I could see what appeared to be wolf like creatures all around me staring at me. The majestic Eisengrun forest stood tall around me. My nostrils were flooded by strange smells that seemed so distant yet so familiar.

Then, in a sudden flash the vision was gone as a pain ran down my arm. The black wolf had closed the distance during that vision and bit deep in my arm. I was not afraid though, for it seemed I could hear her voice calling to me. “Return blood born, son of Luitolf.”

My fellow Atrav, just as those wolves called out to me that night so do I also to you. It is now time for you to return to Eisengrun for the day of penance is upon us. I honored the death of that creature that day and buried him there in the ground there. Destiny calls to the strong chosen to rebuild Osala. The time for restoration is upon us, join me and the rest of the Atrav in holy city. The Mark is calling to us to return to Eisengrud!